For the second literacy assignment, I had to read part two of The Short Bus by Jonathan Mooney. The deeper I read into this book the more aware I become of special education and how this affects people tremendously. There were two parts of part two that I really enjoyed reading. I really liked reading about Cookie and the connection Jon formed with Cookie. Cookie was very different from the average person but his neighbors accepted him anyway. Personally, I was raised to accept everyone for who they are without question. In my opinion, it is good to be different and stand out, that is exactly what Cookie did. He didn't let anyone stop him from being who he truly wanted to be. At first it took a while for Jon to understand Cookie but by the end of their day together, Jon really started to understand. Another portion I really like was Katie. Katie was diagnosed with down syndrome. She did not let this stop her from living her life. She loved life and embraced every moment. She was a very happy person and Jon really was drawn to this characteristic. By reading this section I learned so much about down syndrome that I was unaware of. Jon learned an important lesson from Katie, that people with down syndrome are normal people with insecurities and problems. The last part of this section that really stood out to me was when he was at the Burning Man and was about to burn the pictures of his past because he hated those times and wanted to forget them. Jon stopped himself and realized that was a part of his life and you cannot burn away the past, we can only change the future. He ended up not burning these pictures. Throughout Jon's journey of helping others he is searching for himself. I believe he is slowly finding what he always was looking for, being comfortable and confident in his own skin. It may take time and he is not fully there yet, but he is starting to realize to embrace his unique characteristics and that being "normal" is overrated. Jon is starting to see who and what is really important to him such as Kelly, his sister, and Becky.
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